NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
dt0e Scenes
On Top
i ofthe
World
His third trip to
the National Geog
raphy Bee finally paid off for
Petko Peev this year. The Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 13-year-old
(right)-congratulated by 1989
winner Jack Staddon, our first
ever Bee champ-went home
with a $25,000 scholarship, a trip
to Hong Kong, and a lifetime
membership to NATIONAL GEO
GRAPHIC. What did it take to
win? "Persistence," says Petko.
Two days of competition in
Washington, D.C., last May
meant plenty to ponder for all
57 contestants, including (from
left) Missouri's Eapen Thampy,
Nevada's Peter Guekguezian,
Arkansas's Benji Hardy, and
Kevin Samuels of Oregon.
NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC
PHOTOGRAPHER
MARKTHIESSEN(ALL)
Some five mil
lion other students
nationwide com
peted in the Bee's
preliminary
rounds this year.
The Bee was co
sponsored by the
Society and Sylvan
Learning Centers.
Ben Returns-One Last Time
"I'm retired now" sighed 14-year-old Ben Graber as
he watched the finals of the 1998 National Geography
Bee. Though knocked out in the first-day semifinals
this year, Ben still achieved something no other student
has in a decade of the competition: winning as a state
champion four years in a row. For three years he was
the Georgia winner, and when his family moved to West
Virginia last summer, he aced that state's Bee cham
pionship too. Ben, at left, enjoys spending time with
friends during his "retirement." He also has his eye on
a goal that could put all that Bee knowledge to use. "I
might want to be a writer for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
TOMCOGILL
OCTOBER 1998